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My happy, smiling wife about to have sushi at Sushi Boat in Crowfoot.
Ski Touring up Vermilion Burn
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Scott and I decided to get some late season turns at Vermilion Peak in Kootenay National Park.
Here is Scott at the start of our day checking out the lack of snow down low.
Video of Scott introducing the ski
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We parked a little up the road from the Paint Pots parking lot in order to try to cut off the amount
of hiking we'd have to do. Since the terrain didn't have a lot of snow (and since the guidebook told us to),
we elected to travel along the snow-covered road for a bit.
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This gives a bit of an idea of the approach towards the bottom of Vermilion. Not really winter anymore here...
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You can see a lot more of the burned out trees from 2003. Until the rest of the forest recovers, this
will be a decent place to tour.
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Scott is setting the 'up-track'. Since the snow is so firm, there wasn't really a lot of trail setting
to be done.
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We decided not to summit and instead hung out just below this small knoll to have a bite of lunch.
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Here I am looking a little wistfully (or queer-like) towards the south.
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Scott, with a view to the south and deeper into Kootenay National Park.
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Similar photo, but with Scott's rocking goggles. He looks like a space invader.
Video of Scott skiing near the top of Vermilion Peak
Scott getting a few parallel turns in
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Scott struggled with the snow conditions as they got a little softer and a little 'grabbier'.
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The top half of the ski was excellent. The bottom half was 'very spring-like'. Scott and I were
both happy to get down to the highway, although we were less happy about the almost hour hike
back to the car. Memo to self - Park at Numa parking area instead.
